Choosing music

When choosing this large of a variety of songs, Bauer had the goal of wanting to express the theme as coherently as possible to her audience while giving their students something “that would push them musically,” Bauer said.

Kean went through the same process as she wanted to gather songs that weren’t too difficult for her choral students rhythmically.

“I tried to balance the difficulty of language and rhythm in pieces that chorale musicians aren’t used to seeing,” Kean said.

While they are still both starting to teach their members to practice the songs, Bauer and Kean are also learning it themselves so that their audience can take in the songs to their fullest as well.

“It is a challenge but once we try it and understand how it makes the piece whole they’ll really understand it,” Kean said specifically about the Brazilian piece, “Trěs Cantos Nativos Dos Indios Krao.” Like most of the songs in the performance it is not your typical classical music.

“We look outside of the box for some of those things,” Bauer added as she also sees her class experiencung some obstacles. “We will be using a lot of percussion, which is an interesting switch from last semester,” she said as both instrumental groups are learning more Latin songs this time around.

“Latin rhythms are often very different and when we play I anticipate some difficulties,” Bauer said. Her instrumentalists have been working on pulling in more of those rhythms together.

Aside from the anticipated obstacles, both the instructors and members have been excited to play certain songs for the showcase. Kean’s Collegiate Chorale have been most anxious for “Famine Song,” which holds a striking message concerning the hardships of women during a drought in 1980s Sudan.

“You can hear the message in the harmonies as well,” Kean said about “Famine Song.” “When it finally comes together you can hear that relief.”

With Bauer’s instrumental groups, “Danzon #2” has been the favorite. A challenging and longer piece, Bauer views “Danzon #2” as a more demanding piece for her musicians, but still seen as fun to perform as it requires a lot more percussion than previous songs.

“If you can give them something that pushes them to the edge of what they can do musically and then are able to be successful with that, I think that is so much more satisfying,” she said.

Bauer and Kean see that attending concerts have always been a great way for the community to support many of the LCCC students, but they view this concert as a way to open the doors to something new.

“There is music here that many haven’t heard before, and I always think that is exciting as well,” Bauer said. Kean agreed, as they both believe the concert will be more upbeat than their general classical performances.

“Part of our struggle is to change our music,” Kean said. “Being able to change that tone quality and hear that throughout the pieces is our goal.”

“A Concert of World Music” is free and open to the public. Donations will be accepted to a charity that is yet to be decided.